Newsround

Swine flu goes global

You would have to have been on Planet Zog to miss the ongoing reports on A(H1N1) influenza (swine flu) which emerged in Mexico in April. On 11 June, with official reports showing nearly 30,000 cases and 141 deaths across over 70 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a phase six pandemic and called for a co-ordinated response to contain the disease. Two days later a 38-year-old woman who gave birth prematurely at a hospital in Scotland after testing positive for the A(H1N1) virus, became the first person to die outside the Americas.

As we go to press, WHO continues to recommend no restrictions on travel and no border closures. Daily updates are on several websites:

• www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/general_info.htm
• www.nathnac.org/pro/clinical_updates/swineflucases.htm
• www.who.int/csr/don/en
• www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/resp/swineinfluenza.aspx

But avian flu is still out there ...

In June the Ministry of Health and Population of Egypt reported a new human case of infection with A/H5N1 avian influenza, confirmed in a four-year-old girl who had a history of close contact with dead or sick poultry. She was in a stable condition after being treated with oseltamivir.

Of 78 confirmed cases in Egypt, 27 have been fatal. www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en

And then there's always seasonal flu

The 2009/2010 seasonal flu campaign was announced on 3 April, before the current swine flu situation had developed. In the CMO letter there are no changes to the clinical at-risk or age groups for the main seasonal flu campaign. PCTs are encouraged to promote flu vaccines among poultry workers and health care workers.

Printed copies of the CMO flu letter are not being supplied to GP surgeries this year so do remind practices to order their flu vaccine now. The seasonal flu vaccination plan should continue as usual until further advice is given.

Vaccine Update 158 April 2009 is at: www.immunisation.nhs.uk/Professional_information/CMO_letters

New information on PGDs in general practice

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has produced new guidance on the use of patient group directions in general practice, specifically PGDs used to authorise the administration of non-NHS vaccines such as those for which the practice charges (for example, yellow fever) and for the supply of malaria chemoprophylaxis.

The MHRA has confirmed that PGDs cannot be used to deliver these private services and the practitioner should ensure that patient specific directions (PSDs) are in place before a non-NHS vaccine is administered.

This guidance, which applies to all four home countries, is at: www.portal.nelm.nhs.uk . Further guidance about the use of PGDs in the private sector is available from the MHRA at: www.mhra.gov.uk

International travel and health

WHO's latest International Travel and Health has been posted on their website:
www.who.int/ith/chapters/en/index.html . The 2009 edition includes a chapter on psychological health, detailed maps of major infectious diseases and updated vaccine recommendations and schedules. The book can also be purchased in hard copy.

Rights on immunisation

Everyone in England has "the right to receive the vaccinations that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommend that you should receive under an NHS provided national immunisation programme". This right is set out in the first NHS Constitution which establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England and is underpinned by law (regulations and directions) that came into force on 1 April 2009. The regulations will require the Secretary of State to fund and implement any cost-effective recommendation made by JCVI.

RCN scaling up the global nursing workforce to combat TB

The increasing number of people contracting tuberculosis and multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB each year places overwhelming pressure on stretched and ill-equipped nursing workforces in developing countries. The RCN's alliance, the International Council of Nurses, announced increased and enhanced support for nurses to combat TB through a four-year training and education programme in partnership with pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly. www.icn.ch/PR20_08.htm

HIV-related TB deaths higher than estimates

A new report by WHO shows that the total number of new TB cases worldwide remained stable in 2007 and the percentage of the world's population becoming ill with TB has continued the slow decline first observed in 2004. However, the 2009 global TB control report also reveals that one out of four TB deaths is HIV-related, twice as many as previously recognised. The report at: www.who.int